KAALtv.com

Atlantic Coast storm-protecting projects announced

(AP) GALLOWAY, N.J. - U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is in New Jersey to announce $162 million in funding for 45 storm-protection projects from North Carolina to New England.

The money will help restore marshes and wetlands and rebuild shorelines to reduce the impact of storms like Superstorm Sandy.

Jewell is visting the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Galloway, N.J., near where the center of Sandy came ashore Oct. 29, 2012. The natural buffer helped protect the area from severe flooding.

The government is providing $15 million for salt marsh restoration along the New Jersey coast, including at Forsythe.

Other restoration funding includes $25 million for the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve south of Alexandria, Va., $20 million for a salt marsh ecosystem at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware, and $11 million for salt marshes at three locations on Long Island, N.Y.